Wolfgang Dauner

German pianist Wolfgang Dauner (1935) was a reluctant pioneer of free improvisation on Dream Talk (september 1964) by a trio with Eberhard Weber on bass and Free Action (may 1967) by a septet with French violinist JeanLuc Ponty, percussionist Mani Neumeier, Weber and tenorist Gerd Dudek. Fuer (april 1969), by a quartet featuring Eberhard Weber mainly on cello, and The Oimels (july 1969) instead embraced the hippy age with an acid-soul-jazz sound replete with fuzz guitars and sitar. So inconsistent as creative, Dauner flirted with choral music in Psalmus Spei, off Fred van Hove's Requiem For Che Guevara (november 1968), fusion on Rischka's Soul (november 1969), with swing on Music Zounds (february 1970) and with electronics on Output (october 1970), all of them for trios with Weber. Dauner-eschingen (october 1970) repeated the experiment with the choir. Pianology (march 1971) was a collaboration with Masahiko Satoh. Dauner even formed the jazz-rock group Et Cetera, that released Lady Blue (december 1970), Knirsch (march 1972), featuring guitarist Larry Coryell and Colosseum's drummer Jon Hiseman, and Live (1973). And even more ambitious was the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, that Dauner formed in 1975 by gathering progressive jazz and rock musicians such as guitarist Volker Kriegel, trumpeter Ack Van Rooyen, trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, saxophonist Charlie Mariano, flutist Barbara Thompson, Nucleus' trumpeter Ian Carr, bassist Eberhard Weber, and Colosseum's drummer Jon Hiseman. Their albums ranked among the bestsellers of German jazz: Live im Schutzenhaus (january 1977), Teamwork (january 1978), The Break Even Point (april 1979), with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, the double-LP Live in Berlin (october 1981), United Live Opus Sechs (july 1984), again with Wheeler, Round Seven (february 1987), with trumpeter Johannes Faber, Na Endlich (may 1992), again with Wheeler.

He also co-founded the ensemble Free Sound And Super Brass (october 1975).

In the meantime, Dauner had released his first solo album, Changes (september 1978), followed by Piano Solo (1983) and Zeitlaufe/ Kalender Suite (1988).

Dauner also composed The Primal Scream (1979) for symphony orchestra, choir, tapes, solo voice and solo violin, Trans Tanz (1985) for symphony orchestra, solo trombone and solo piano, the symphonic poem When In Trouble Travel (1992) for orchestra and soloists, etc.

Dauner died in 2020 at the age of 84.